March 8, 2011

A guest post by James Adams, editor and contributor to the CreativeCloud blog.

Being a professional blogger isn’t as simple as waking up one morning and stating, “I am a blogger, look out world!” Like any other discipline or endeavour, being a successful blogger means that you have to take the job seriously. That means working with dedication, planning and forethought. Having the right tools is an essential part of being a blogger, as you need the right tools in order to get the job done.

1. Computer or Laptop: There is no doubt one of the key tools of the modern journalist and the pro blogger is the computer. After all, the computer has become the informational link to the world. Blogging is all about information and staying current with what is happening in the world around us. This means that your computer is an essential tool in your blogging toolkit. While it is not necessary to have a top of the line gaming computer, you should have one that can get the job done or you will lose hours and hours on productivity. Making sure that you have a quality anti-virus program and firewall might be savvy addition as well.

2. Top-Notch Monitor: A reasonably large high quality monitor is an essential tool not just for bloggers, but also for anyone spending a lot of time at the computer. Eyestrain can greatly impair your productivity and make working nothing short of unpleasant. Spending a little extra money for a quality monitor is a savvy move.

3. Broadband Access: It should come as no surprise that access to a broadband connection is essential for blogging. While some people do still use dial-up Internet, you will experience major setbacks if you don’t have access to a fast connection. If you are using a laptop computer, be sure that you have a 3G dongle device for your mobile broadband access.

4. The Smartphone: A good smartphone is an absolute essential for the blogger. This is particularly true if you have one with a good deal of functionality and apps. A smartphone can function something like a modern Swiss army knife and may include GPS, recording capability, note taking capability, as well as essential features such as a camera and video capability. Also a smartphone allows you to connect to the Internet whenever you like from virtually wherever you like. This can prove invaluable for any number of important reasons. Of course, your trusted smartphone also functions as a phone too! All of these factors combine to make the smartphone a simply essential tool.

5. The Notebook or Notepad: Sure a notebook or notepad might be a bit “old school,” but you never have to worry about the battery on your notepad running out! This makes the time honoured, battled tested notepad something of a practical real world essential. It is something that you should not be without for quickly jotting down ideas on good old-fashioned paper.

6. Pens, Pens and More Pens: Pens are always a must for the blogger. Not all note taking is digital... at least not yet.

6. A Good Desk: Having a good desk might seem like a no-brainer, but if you are going to be spending hours upon hours writing, you need to keep the importance of a good desk in mind. A good desk will also help keep you organised and enhance your productivity.

7. The Chair: A comfortable chair, one that you can spend hours in, is probably even more important than having a good desk. After all, back problems will quickly end your workday.

9. A Bookcase: You never know when you might want to include a reference to a book in your blogging endeavours. A bookcase is important for staying organised. Don’t skip this inexpensive item that is essential for keeping books in order.

10. A Quality Keyboard: Lots of blogging means lots of typing. This makes an investment in a comfortable keyboard a must. Don’t just assume that the keyboard you received with your computer is adequate.

Nice article. Im going to add one thing in this list. If I had an blogging office I would put a huge writing board, because every professional blogger needs to brainstorming every day. Thnx for sharing your thoughts mate.

Hi Divya(The Divine),I found your site while searching blogging realated issues. Your site is really good that i bookmarked it. I subscribed and want to read all previous posts later. I want to know how can i add a "Add to bookmark" button or lable to our blog.

Glad you found this blog worth bookmarking :)I hope these tutorials will help you for that:1. http://bloggerstop.net/2008/12/how-to-add-social-networking-buttons-to.html2. http://bloggerstop.net/2009/05/add-autohiding-social-bookmarking.html

thanks for your great work, am new to blogging, there is a template am using in my blog http://blog4all-com.blogspot.com/it came with a slider, i cant edit the picture and text dat came with the slider. please help me out.blog4all@yahoo.com, also help me out on how to improve the blog. cheers

I have a blog on blogger.After adding the url in google the blog is indexed in google search engine whenever we type the words of the blog coming before ".blogspot.com" like say for an example for a blog named "shivthetruth.blogspot.com" if we type "shivthetruth" in google we get the blog indexed on the first page itself however my blog is not indexed in google and my blog is about more than 1 year old and i m earning from this blog but not find any page with my home address (sarkarivacancies dot blogspot dot com)

How can solve this problem?

As you know this problem is making me worried about my blog earning through google adsense.

Please explain why is this happening so that i can do the modification to make my blog listed in google.

I agree with you, these are the essential things that every blogging office needs. I think that if more people thought about it that way, theyd have a better time understanding the issue. Anyway thanks for this post.

Great Blog with very good posts. In fact in all posts of this blog their is something to learn . your work is very good and i appreciate your work and hopping for some more informative posts . Again thanks

Thanks for sharing a great information... New content things every blogging office needs does require a lot of effort but if it is engaging you attract a great deal of links and is highly effective over the long run.

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